When Richard Swift died July 3 from complications stemming from his longtime alcohol addiction, the indie-music world lost a true legend. Not only did Swift do everything, he did everything better than pretty much everybody else. His work with the likes of the Shins, Arcs, Black Keys, Guster, Damien Jurado and Foxygen will live on forever. To celebrate the life and music of this multitalented genius, there were two Tribute To Richard Swift shows, with proceeds benefiting the Richard Swift Memorial Fund. MAGNET photographer Wes Orshoski attended the one at Rough Trade NYC in Brooklyn last week, featuring Nathaniel Rateliff, Hamilton Leithauser (Walkmen), Cults, Valerie June, Jessie Baylin, Sam Cohen (Apollo Sunshine, Yellowbirds), Elizabeth Ziman (Elizabeth And The Catapult), Patrick Hallahan (My Morning Jacket) and more.

Florence + The Machine
ALT 92.3 Radio hosted its Radio.com Presents Not So Silent Night last week at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “New York’s New Alternative” radio station celebrated the holidays as well as its first year on the dial with performances by Florence + The Machine, Muse, Death Cab For Cutie, Foster The People, CHVRCHES, AJR, Mike Shinoda and Bastille. MAGNET photographer Wes Orshoski was there to see how loud things would get.
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Since you won’t be seeing Lindsey Buckingham when Fleetwood Mac tours next year, the guitar god gave fans an opportunity to watch him strut his six-string stuff at more intimate venues. Supporting Solo Anthology: The Best Of Lindsey Buckingham (Rhino), Buckingham played a 22-song set at the Town Hall in NYC, with all the solo hits (“Trouble,” “Go Insane”) and Mac classics as well (“Go Your Own Way,” “Tusk”). MAGNET photographer Wes Orshoski took a ride down the holiday road.

WFUV just had its Holiday Cheer For FUV concert at NYC’s Beacon Theatre. The 14th annual event, a fundraiser for Fordham University’s long-running, noncommercial, member-supported radio station, featured John Prine, the Lone Bellow and Shannon Shaw (Shannon And The Clams). MAGNET photographer Wes Orshoski was tuned in left of the dial.

Indeed, the band Poppins fronts, Belgium’s delightfully offensive Cocaine Piss, limits its performance to concise bursts of intense, sexy energy. With the finesse of a steamroller, set opener “Piñacolalove” expresses the anxiety of the first flush of lust. The thrashy “Treehouse” recounts, with the delicate touch of a 300-pound biker somersaulting down a flight of stairs, the revenge of a sexually conflicted girl.

From their titles alone, “Sex Weirdos,” “Incest” and “Pussy” require no exegesis.

Drawing on their tutelage under noise guru and engineer extraordinaire Steve Albini, the Pissers are highly skilled at such provocation, often flirting with the grotesque. The band squats that gritty space where Surfbort and early Bad Brains intersect. That’s a clumsy convergence, to be sure. But hardcore punk pays heed neither to subtlety nor to nuance.

And nor should it.

Poppins herself embodies this defiance of rules and propriety—qualities that define her gloriously anarchic quartet. Her shrill caterwauling recalls Japanoise siren Yasuko Onuki from Melt-Banana. She spends half of the gig pinballing through the pit and the other half face-planted on the stage. Her demeanor is both stand-offish and matronly.

But Poppins’ triumph is complete with the trashy burlesque of “Happiness.” Her interpretation captures the awkwardness and joy of self-pleasure. She tugs brusquely on her left tit and then, with a charming accent, coos jerkily “mas-tur-bah-syoh.”

So yeah, Cocaine Piss songs are short and sensual. Just like any good session of, uh, “happiness.”

Copenhagen’s finest (post-)punk-rock band plowed into Brooklyn’s Elsewhere for not only its second show in three nights in the Big Borough but also its final North American date of 2018. Iceage—fronted by madman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt—was supporting startlingly mature fourth album Beyondless (Matador). MAGNET photographer Wes Orshoski risked life and limb at the foot of the stage to get these pain-killing pics.

All month, Thom Yorke is touring North America in support of new album Suspiria (Music For The Luca Guadagnino Film) (XL). The Radiohead frontman kicked off the jaunt in MAGNET’s hometown of Philly at Franklin Music Hall and followed up a few nights later at Brooklyn’s King Theatre. MAGNET had photographers at both shows—Chris Sikich (Philly) and Wes Orshoski (NYC)—to make sure Yorke had everything in its right place. Here’s what happened in Brooklyn.

All month, Thom Yorke is touring North America in support of new album Suspiria (Music For The Luca Guadagnino Film) (XL). The Radiohead frontman kicked off the jaunt in MAGNET’s hometown of Philly at Franklin Music Hall and followed up a few nights later at Brooklyn’s King Theatre. MAGNET had photographers at both shows—Chris Sikich (Philly) and Wes Orshoski (NYC)—to make sure Yorke had everything in its right place. Here’s the Philly Special.

Thom Yorke brought some of his odd beats to Philadelphia on Black Friday to open his North American solo tour. Playing before a sold-out crowd at Franklin Music Hall, Yorke was in fine, loose form, delivering a soundtrack to the emotions just out of focus and underneath the skin in the best Yorkian way possible.

Despite recently doing the soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino’s reimagining of 1977 Italian film Suspiria, he and bandmates Nigel Godrich and Tarik Barri only performed one track from the soundtrack (“Unmade”), which ended the show. Yorke chose to stick to his other solo works like Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes and The Eraser. He floated between guitar and keys and mixing board with ease and joy, jumping and twirling onstage while Barri’s fluid images made a colorful backdrop that encouraged the crowd to loosen up to the ethereal sounds. Yorke’s supreme understanding of rock music as a progression of hip and head-shaking beats made the show one of pure aural and visual enjoyment. Tickets sold out quickly, and it would’ve been easy for Yorke to do a second sold-out date, but this night of elliptical sounds did just fine for now.

Oliver Coates opened with his avant-garde cello music. With piercing light stands surrounding his stark set-up, he was a great inner-ear warm-up for the night.

Mitski concludes her North American tour in support of Be The Cowboy (Dead Oceans) tonight at Brooklyn Steel with Arooj Aftab opening. Starting in late January, she’ll kick off dates in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Ms. Miyawaki recently played a sold-out, 23-song set at Philly’s Union Transfer, a show added after her previous gig there in October sold out immediately. (Both shows featured NYC duo Overcoats opening.) MAGNET photographer Chris Sikich was at the second show and came away with a loving feeling and these images.

This superstar super trio features Nickel Creek fiddler/guitarist Sara Watkins, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/guitarist Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan (known for her stunning vocal work with Crooked Still and Sometymes Why). Debut See You Around shows off I’m With Her’s celestial harmonies, instrumental prowess and impressive songwriting. The women alternate lead vocals, but when their voices blend, moving from two-part to three-part harmonies, the music really takes off. The threesome brought all this and more to Philadelphia’s Union Transfer, playing a 17-song set that included covers of songs by Jim Croce (a Philly boy) and Bill Monroe. MAGNET photographer Chris Sikich was there to capture these girls on film.